Hard Road
by RogueWitch
Summary: Faith and Willow are assigned to a possible Hellmouth in Northern California, where they run across Jax and the Sons of Anarchy.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Hard Road

Author: RogueWitch

Summery: Faith and Willow are assigned to a possible Hellmouth in Northern California, where they run across Jax and the Sons of Anarchy.

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sons of Anarchy; I'm just borrowing them for a little while.

Cleveland to Northern Cali wasn't a particularly easy ride, but Willow had to be crazy if she thought that she could talk Faith into leaving her bike. The trip was two hard days on the road and the fact that it was still the tail end of winter in the Mid West added the additional difficulty of icy cold winds and possible snow in the mountains. These were all valid reasons to leave the bike and just make a trip with it in a few months, but Faith was far too stubborn to listen, which was how she found herself pulling into a repair shop in a tiny town on her way to her final destination of Lodi, California. Willow pulled her Honda, which was packed full of the things they would need to set up house near Lodi, in behind Faith.

Faith pulled her bike up to the shop doors, kicked down the stand and pulled off her helmet, her one concession to the trip across the Rockies was to trade her normal helmet for a full face one, it might have been a little sporty, but it had been nice in the snow they had hit just outside of Denver. She unzipped her insolated leather jacket and strode over to the shops office. Her legs and back were stiff from the two and a half day ride; she put her hands on her hips and leaned back feeling each vertebra pop back into alignment.

"I told you it would be easier on you to just drive with me," Willow called. Her long red hair in a tight pony tail high on her head bobbed around as she shook her head. "But you had to be stubborn."

"It's just the way of things, Red." Faith straightened and walked the rest of the way to the office. Normally she would just pull the bike into the garage back at Slayer Central and clean it herself, but she hadn't brought any of her tools with her, they were all being shipped, and she didn't really want to leave the road salt caked into the crevices of her motorcycle any longer then was absolutely necessary, it would eat away at the metal and rubber seals, plus after a long ride, a tone up was always a smart idea. Faith had gotten the name for the shop at a gas station just this side of Nevada and held a small business card that had a skull logo and "The Tribe" printed on the front and the address for the shop under the name Teller-Marrow and the message 'Go See Sam Crow' underneath, hand written on the back. The Tribe was a Motorcycle Club, not a very well known one, but known enough that Faith had caught wind of them. If a club was recommending a shop, she knew they were either very good or somehow affiliated. A quick look around showed the club house, which she had passed on the way in and hadn't paid any attention to, now she looked. The Sons of Anarchy, yep, they were affiliated.

The office was small and spare, just a desk and a few chairs and filling cabinets. A pretty woman in her fifties sat behind the desk and gave Faith a once over, then a good business smile. "What can I do for you, Sweetheart?" She had a pleasant voice, but years of smoking gave it a husky edge.

"I hit a snow storm coming over the Rockies, I just need the salt cleaned out, and a tune up, I wouldn't say no to an oil change." Faith handed over the card, "I got a recommendation just over the border."

The woman looked at the card and smiled for real. "Tig, bring this lady's bike into the bay," she shouted, then turned back to Faith, hand extended. "I'm Gemma Teller."

"Faith Lehane," they shook.

Willow popped her head in the door, looking restless, despite nearly three days on the road. "Faith, we need to get going, we're supposed to meet the realtor in half an hour." Faith nodded and filled out the paper work for the bike.

"You girls moving around here?" Gemma asked with an edge of more then just curiosity.

"Yeah, we have some business in the area," Willow said before turning back to her car to wait for Faith.

"Well, welcome to Charming, Faith." Gemma smiled at the slayer, liking her already.

"Thank you, Gemma. I'll be back in the morning for my bike." A scruffy looking biker was walking her bike into the bay; 'Tig' was stitched into his shirt.

"This is a fine looking bike, Sweetheart, but its just plain wrong for it to be pink."

Faith laughed then licked her finger and ran it across the tank, leaving a smudge of deep lipstick red paint visible under the grime. "Just dirty, I wouldn't paint a nice bike like this, such a prissy color."

"Faith isn't a pink kind of girl," Willow said almost under her breath. In the past few years they had come a long way towards mending fences, but they still had a long way to go and Faith still left Willow a little uneasy at times.

"No, that's your gig, Red," Faith leered playfully at the other girl. "Pink and fuzzy."

"I haven't worn anything fuzzy in years." Faith just raised her eyebrows at Willow, who turned crimson. "That doesn't count," Willow slid into the driver's seat.

"Take care of my girl," Faith said to the mechanic.

"Oh, I will," he leered openly at Faith, who just shook her head and climbed into the passenger's seat.

Faith hated driving in cars, maybe it had to do with her time in jail and having the feeling of confinement, or maybe they just felt wrong, moving at high speeds without the feel of the wind. Whatever it was, Willow's driving didn't make it any better.

The realtor was a dumpy older woman who took one look at Faith in her red leather halter vest and black jeans, motorcycle boots and tattoos, and put her safely in the 'Crow Eater' category, one of those girls who hung out with the local bike club. Willow on the other hand, looked like a slightly hippy post-grad, and the realtor couldn't help but wonder what they were doing looking at houses together, but since it was a bad idea to piss off Sam Crow, she let it go.

At the end of the day the girls put in a bid on a nice two story with a pool on a big tract of land, about five miles from the Lodi border, well within Sam Crow territory. The realtor hoped they wouldn't bring too much trouble to the area, though she couldn't help but noice that the land they wanted butted up to the land that the Cara Cara Warehouse was on.

Willow drove them to a near by hotel, and they checked into two rooms, waiting to hear back fro, the realtor. Faith flopped down on the bed, "well all that Watcher money went a long way." Faith wasn't sure how much they were getting a month fro, the council, since they weren't on an active Hellmouth, at least they didn't think so, the intel was inconclusive. There had been a rise in demon activity in the area, and a local witch noticed a rise in dark energy, but this could be a result of the tension between some of the local gangs or the early stages of a burgeoning Hellmouth.

"The realtor said it was going cheep because the land next door was all Sam Crow, and he built a warehouse on it, apparently its being used as an adult movie studio." Willow said, putting her suit case on the other bed. "Owner wants to sell the land fast before it looses all its value, apparently."

"Perfect for us, no nosy neighbors, lots of space, and secluded," Faith said, heaving her sore body off the bed. "Well, I'm spent. I'll see you in a few hours, Red."

"Yeah, we need to do a quick patrol tonight, head out toward Lodi, see what we're working with."

Faith thought that a quick sweep though the local cemetery was a good idea. The town they were staying in was called Charming, and after the years in Sunnydale, they both knew names could be deceiving. It wasn't like patrolling in Sunnydale, where all the smart residence were at home by dark, here they were people on the street, shops that were still doing business, and the local bar was packed. Though that wasn't really new, bars had always been packed in Sunnydale, the better to forget the Chaos demon you just saw if you drink yourself blind.

Willow parked at the cemetery and they both got out. Faith checked her few stakes she had tucked into her clothes and her custom hunting knife, the tip and half the blade was made of steel, with a high silver content, the other half of the blade was made of hard wood, which held no edge, but was great for staking vamps. Willow locked the door and took a quick survey of the cemetery, which wasn't as empty as she would have liked. "There's a group of about five or six off to the north, I say we head in the other direction and loop around."

"What are they doing out in a cemetery this late?" Faith produced a stake from nowhere and started twirling it in her fingers.

"How should I know?"

"I don't know," Faith tossed the stake in the air and caught it, testing the weight and balance. "You knew they were there, I just figured you'd know what they were doing, also."

"Yeah, my magic doesn't work that way," Willow ran her hands through her hair. Ever since the spell to call all of the potentials, her magic had fallen to slightly more manageable levels, that wasn't to say that she wasn't still one of the most powerful witches in the world, but it was a bit less overwhelming. She also felt a bit less omnipresent, she could feel the life in the area, she just couldn't see them the way she once could. "It just says 'humans that way.' Most of the time I can get an accurate count, too." Faith just nodded and took of in the direction away from the group.

The cemetery was small, barely seven full acres, filled with headstones and mausoleums and trees. They made a wide circle around the perimeter, which was mostly tree lined. Not even a hundred yards fro, the group Willow had senses earlier, Willow felt a change in the air, then the two of them heard shouting. Faith took off, running as silently as possible, while Willow pushed her senses to the limit, feeling out the presence in the graveyard.

She still felt the five humans, and two or three vampires, they were harder to count because they registered like voids to her magic. She dropped the threads of magic she was holding, and ran after Faith. She knew that the Slayer could easily take on three vamps, but humans who were spooked tended not to be Faith's specialty.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Hard Road

Author: RogueWitch

Summery: Faith and Willow are assigned to a possible Hellmouth in Northern California, where they run across Jax and the Sons of Anarchy.

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sons of Anarchy; I'm just borrowing them for a little while.

_Last time: She still felt the five humans, and two or three vampires, they were harder to count because they registered like voids to her magic. She dropped the threads of magic she was holding, and ran after Faith. She knew that the Slayer could easily take on three vamps, but humans who were spooked tended not to be Faith's specialty._

By the time Willow caught up, Faith had dispatched two of the vamps and was finishing up the last. Willow put her hands on her knees and took a few deep breaths.

"Red, I think we might have a problem," Faith called to her, the group of humans were standing around, looking at one of their number, who was bleeding quite heavily from, a wound on his neck. One of the guys pulled off a leather vest then a white t-shirt and threw it at Faith, who caught it and applied it to the bleeding man's wound, putting on as much pressure as she dared.

"What the bleeding hell just happened?" The bleeding man croaked.

"You got bitten; you'll be fine, just a bit sore for a few days." Willow took over for Faith, who stood up and brushed the dust off of her leather pants.

"Got bitten by what, exactly?" an attractive blond who was putting his vest back on over his bare chest.

"A vampire," Faith slid her stake back into its place at the small of her back and tested its position by turning her upper body back and forth, when she was satisfied she crossed her arms over her chest, daring the men to challenge what she said.

"A vampire?" The blond asked, he scoffed, "vampires aren't real, darling."

"Really" Faith knelt down next to the man who was cursing unintelligibly in a thick Scottish brogue and pulled the shirt from, around his neck. Blood pumped out of the twin holes in his neck. "How do you explain these then? Or the fact that a small piece of wood turned those guys into nothing but dust?"

"Baby, you might be smokin' a bit too much of that Mayan Hash," the guy from the shop earlier, Tig, said. His eyes wandering up and down Faith's leather clad body.

"Hey, buddy," Faith caught his eyes and held the, in her deadly, no nonsense gaze. "Eyes up here."

"I'm just looking." Tig held up his hands, showing he was unarmed, and more importantly, not touching.

"I give you permission to look at me like that?" Faith raised an eyebrow, daring hi, to say something smart, she was itching for a fight, and those vamps had hardly put one up.

"Your outfit there, sweetbutt, gave me all the permission I need." Tig leered openly at Faith, who swept his feet out from under him and pressed the heal of her boot into his throat before any of them could blink.

"Faith," Willow's voice carried over the blood pounding in the Slayer's ears. "I could really use your help over here." Without a break in stride, Faith went from pushing down on Tig's neck, to helping Willow stop the blood flowing fro, the Scott's neck.

"What's your name?" Faith asked the man, while Willow started chanting under her breath.

"Chibs, love," the Scott said, his voice a bit slurred fro, the trauma and blood loss. "What's yours, darling?"

"I'm Faith," she smiled down at him, still holding the t-shirt firmly to his neck.

"Oh, that's good. I need a little faith right now." Chibs eyes started to slowly cross and roll back in his head.

"Oh, no you don't," Faith slapped him lightly on the face. "No passing out." She smacked hi, a bit harder, "Chibs, look at me." His eyes slip open, but he didn't see, capable of focusing. "Okay, just keep your eyes on me, Willow here is almost done."

Willow sat back on her heals and pulled the blood soaked t-shirt from the biker's neck, with a flick of her wrist she set it on fire and placed it atop a head stone to burn safely. "Never leave anything with your blood around, not only can vamps track you with the scent, but some witches can do some really nasty spells."

"Someone help me get him up," Faith started pulling the still dazed and weak Chibs to his feet. "Willow can drive him back to the shop, but Boy-O here isn't getting on a bike tonight."

"I'm fine, I can ride, no problem, love." The Scott slurred, almost completely incomprehensibly. Faith just raised her eyebrow and relaxed her grip on the Scott, who started to tip towards the ground, before Faith caught him again. "A ride would be much appreciated, love."

"Hand over your keys and I'll bring your bike back."

"Oh no, no one rides me bike without me."

"No one rides a Sam Crow bike without a Sam Crow," Blondy said. "You don't touch another man's bike."

"You've got two options, Blondy Bear," Faith held up two fingers. "One, you leave the bike and those vamps we dusted? Their friends will come around and track the scent of Boy-O's blood to the bike and take it." Faith put down one finger. "Or two, you let me ride the bike back to the shop and its still here tomorrow."

"Just give her the keys, Jax." Chibs said, leaning fully into Faith to keep himself up right. "I don't think arguing with Wonder Woman here is going to go any good."

"And you keys are?" Faith asked, shifting the Scott more comfortably in her arms, one of his thrown over her shoulder.

"In my pocket," because were else would someone put there keys, she shifted, putting her hand in first one pocket, then the other before being rewarded with a set of three keys. "Bike, Clubhouse, room." He said, slumped against her neck.

"Okay, Blondy Bear, you get to help me carry Boy-O to Reds car." Jax looked questioningly at Willow.

"She's big on nicknames, they stick." Willow just shrugged and started across the cemetery towards her car.

"Oh, good," was all Jax could say before taking half of the Scott's weight off of Faith and following the red headed witch to the car.

"We'll just wait right here," Tig called, wisely staying exactly were Faith had put him.

With a little effort, Jax and Faith got Chibs into the back of Willow's car. "When we get back to the Clubhouse, we get a full explanation of what's going on here." Jax looked straight into Faith's eyes, giving her his own version of serious face.

"The whole story, you deserve that, since we're moving to your town." Faith nodded to Willow, who started the car and drove to were the bikes were parked.

"We've got a lot of friends around here, Sweetheart, if we don't want you here, you won't be." Jax said matter of factly, not in the least threatening.

"You might have influence here, but we have more out there," Faith gave him a wicked smile. "When the WC and the Joint Chiefs say move to Northern Cali, you just pack your bag and go."

"The Joint Chiefs as in," Jax just looked at her, little biker girl like her, working for the government, not good.

"The United States Government, yeah. I'm not a fed, I'm not the law; I just hunt bad things."

"And what are you doing here?" Jax clipped his helmet on and gestured for the others to follow suit.

"Saving the World," Faith clipped Chibs helmet on and threw her leg over the bike, kicking up the stand.

"A little red headed hippy and a biker chick?"

"Oh, we're a lot more then that," Faith turned the key and stomped on the ignition, effectively cutting off conversation.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Hard Road

Author: RogueWitch

Summery: Faith and Willow are assigned to a possible Hellmouth in Northern California, where they run across Jax and the Sons of Anarchy.

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sons of Anarchy; I'm just borrowing them for a little while.

_Last time: "Oh, we're a lot more then that," Faith turned the key and stomped on the ignition, effectively cutting off conversation._

Faith followed the bikes back to the shop, easily falling into formation behind them, the low rumble of Willow's car just within hearing distance for the Slayer.

The Sons of Anarchy sign in front of the Clubhouse was light, flames licking the edges of the metal letters. Faith pulled the bike into the last space in the line. Willow pulled the car up behind her and Faith helped Jax pull Chibs out of the back seat. Chibs was barely conscious enough to direct them to his room on the second floor of the Clubhouse.

Willow pulled off the Scot's boots and pulled the covers up before sitting down on the chair closest to the bed. "I'll monitor him, for the next few hours, if that's alright." Willow said to Jax, "I patched him up as best I could, but everyone reacts to magic differently."

Jax chose not to comment, too much was being thrown at him, and none of it was being explained. He felt it prudent to simply follow Faith out of the room. "You wanted and explanation?"

"Yeah," Jax nodded, gesturing for Faith to go back down the stairs. "I just need to make a few calls."

"Get everyone here before I start," Faith pulled a cigarette from the case she had stuffed into the top of her boot and started twirling it between her fingers. "I only want to tell this once." Jax flicked his Zippo and lit the end of his own cigarette before lighting Faith's. The Slayer took a calming drag of nicotine, settling her jumping nerves. "I'm still itching for a good fight, and it'll be dawn by the time we get out of here, and Red's not much for a good tumble now that she's back playing for the girl's team."

Jax simply didn't know how to respond to Faith's comment. "We've got Jack downstairs, might settle you a bit. What do you mean playing for the girls' team?"

"Red took a turn on the other team, now she's back driving stick. I think Kennedy scared her straight, that bitch had something very wrong with her."

"Maybe we should start at the beginning," Jax was positive that this was going to be a long night.

"For the whole story, we'll need Red," Faith flicked her ash into an ashtray on the bar. "I missed some key points, including the beginning." She downed the shot Jax poured, "I'm here to give you the low down on vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness."

The room filled slowly with club members, save Chibs, and Jax went around the room giving names to faces. "The big guy, over there with the beard, that's Opie, next to him, is Half-Sack." Faith snorted. "Them we have Tig, who you know, the big shaggy guy is Bobby Elvis, the Old guy with the O2 is Piney, the kid with the Mohawk is Juice, next is Happy, and last, but not least, is Sam Crow President Clay."

"Wow, and I thought the Scoobies had screwed up names." Faith downed the latest shot Jax poured for her and laughed.

"You might want to slow down, girly," Clay rumbled. "This ain't no sorority party."

"Okay, story time, boys." Faith cracked her knuckles and set three long knives on the bar, two from concealed pockets in her leather pants and one fro, a sheath down her back, not a one had any of the club noticed before she brought their attention to them. "Once upon a time, into every generation a slayer was born, one girl in all the world with the strength and skill to stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness, to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers; she was the slayer." Faith paused, waiting for the interruption she was sure she would get. She threw back a shot and gave Jax a grateful look when he poured her another.

Piney took a deep pull on his oxygen tank and looked like he was going to say something, but Clay beat hi, to it. "Darling, there is no such thing as vampires." Clay wasn't entirely sure what to make of this girl, or why Jax had called them all together in the middle of the night to listen to her nonsense, but he wasn't going to keep sitting around.

"Clay, she may sound crazy, but what we saw tonight," Tig shook his head, looking truly shaken, which for a mildly psychotic merc wasn't normal. "It was way crazier. You may just want to hear her out." Clay looked at the boys, Jax, Opie, Juice, Half-Sack; they all just nodded in agreement.

"Can I continue, or do you all want a little more time to discuss my sanity?" Faith asked, not a hint of sarcasm in her voice, which took a considerable amount of effort, she was proud. No one said anything, which Faith took as a sign to continue. "Now, I don't know the full history of Buffy and the Scoobies, I wasn't there for most of it, and a good deal of what I was there for, I'm not super proud of, but I've heard all of the stories, the little slayer like listening to tales of the times before, when there really was only one, but I'll get to that." Faith downed her fourth, or was it her fifth shot, still waiting for the Jack to take the edge off her post-slay cravings so she could concentrate on the story she had to tell and not on the pretty blond with no shirt on under his leather vest. Jax refilled her class. "Contrary to popular belief, this world did not begin in paradise, now I'm not here to debate religion with you; just state the facts as they have been recorded by the Watchers' Council. This world was once over run by evil, by pure demons, as the last of them left this plain it exchanged blood with a human, creating the first vampire." She downed the shot and finally started to feel the edge come off her hunger. "In ancient times a group of tribal elders, known as the Shadow Men, they used great magic to infuse a captive girl with the heart, soul, and spirit of a demon. This gave her great strength, agility, and endurance. She was the First Slayer. The men who captured and tortured her, became the line from which the old Watcher's Council was descended." Faith took another shot. She hated this story, as much as she loved being a slayer, the beginnings left her cold inside, not every girl who was called was truly fit for the battle that lay ahead for her, and the way the Shadow Men set the entire thing up was nothing if not pure evil.

"What do you mean, a captive girl?" Jack asked almost too quietly for her to hear.

"They stole her from her home, bound her to a rock in a cave and infused her with the essence of a demon, in her heart, her soul, and her spirit; she changed utterly from a teenaged girl to a fearsome warrior overnight." Faith looked down into her shot glass of amber liquid, "I was born into this calling, make no mistake about that, whether I was called as a Slayer or not, I've always been a fighter, that's not true for every potential Slayer. Buffy is the longest living Slayer that there has ever been, she has become the best of the best, she is the Omni Slayer, and she was perfectly happy being a cheerleader. When we are called we change in ways that are hard to explain to the mundane person. Not only our physical abilities get better, but mentally we are sharper, or scenes are more keen, and we live for the fight, crave it." Faith threw back the shot and slammed the glass back on the counter, mouth down, letting it shatter in her hand. "Questions, comments?"


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Hard Road

Author: RogueWitch

Summery: Faith and Willow are assigned to a possible Hellmouth in Northern California, where they run across Jax and the Sons of Anarchy.

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sons of Anarchy; I'm just borrowing them for a little while.

_Last time: Faith threw back the shot and slammed the glass back on the counter, mouth down, letting it shatter in her hand. "Questions, comments?"_

"So, your strong?" Clay said, looking down at what was left of the shot glass, he was actually really impressed, not that he would let on. "Don't prove nothing about demons."

"Clay, you didn't see these guys," Tig said, he took a long pull from the bottle of Jack that Jax left on the bar. "One minute they looked totally normal, then their faces went all ridges and their teeth, man, I ain't never seen anything like it, outside some Wes Craven flick."

"Yeah, then Faith came running and stabbed one of them with this pointy stick, and he exploded into dust." Half-Sack's eyes got really big, like Andrew's sometimes did when he was geeking out over something. "Then one of them bit Chibs when he went at it with a knife."

"Wait, back up," Clay looked around, "were is Chibs?"

"He's upstairs with that Red chick. She said she'd look after him, that he'd be just fine." Tig contemplated the bottle of Jack before taking another long pull.

"Her names Willow," Faith said quietly. Faith was the only one who got to call Willow 'Red,' it was an unspoken thing, but still sound in Faith's mind.

"Chick's got red hair, I can see why you call her that," Half-Sack said. Faith just gave him a look, a look that could probably have melted steel if she had tried. Half-Sack looked down at his empty hands on the counter.

"I'm called Red because I can skin a man alive with my mind, but I choose to use that power to train the warriors of the light." Willow walked into the room with a slightly wobbly, but much better looking, Chibs on her arm. "It's from the old joke 'What's black and white and red all over?' Granted Faith called me 'Red' before I went Darth Willow."

"I could see the potential darkness under the surface," Faith chuckled.

"You could see that it annoyed the shit out of me," Willow helped Chibs into a chair and he gave her a grateful smile, which was a rare sight on the scared Scot's face.

"Thank you, love."

"Think nothing of it, I know how much it sucks to get bitten by an angry puppy," Willow pulled back her curtain of red hair to reveal an old white scar on her neck.

"I thought you said it was a vampire?" Clay said accusingly to Faith.

"It was, 'Angry Puppy' is just a code word for when we discuss any Scooby business around people who don't know." Willow said, she patted Chibs on the shoulder. "At least you know the bastard who bit you is dust. The vamp who bit me is named Harmony, we went to high school together, pre-vamp. I hated her then." Willow took a deep breath, "I didn't like her too much after she bit me either. Now she works for my friend Angel, she's his secretary."

"Your friend has a secretary who's a vampire?" Jax was all kinds of confused.

"Okay, we should start from the beginning, yeah?" Faith asked Willow, her eyes indicated this was Willow's story to tell.

"Just give me a cup of tea, and I'll dive in," Willow sat down in the chair next to Chibs and started checking his wound.

"Does this look like the kind of place that would serve tea?" Clay was more then a little annoyed at the fact that everyone seemed to be cheerfully ignoring him.

"Back in my room, in the desk, second drawer on the left, good British tea, proper tea," Chibs said.

Willow hopped up and kissed him on the cheek, "thanks."

"Anytime, love." Chibs smiled after the retreating red head. "Sweet girl, that one."

"Aww, does the Scot have a little crush?" Faith teased.

"She can't be much older then my daughter," Chibs said, closing any further inquiry. "What's a nice girl like that doing with a wild one like you, anyhow?"

"I'm her job," Faith said, plucking another shot glass from behind the bar, since she'd decimated her last one.

"What do you mean, 'her job'?" Jax asked, filling her glass with the bottle Tig had been drinking out of.

"I'm her watcher, of sorts. The whole thing's changed in the past few years, but I'll get to all of that." Willow had a tea bag in an empty mug, she looked at it for a moment, poured cold water from the tap in and sent a little energy at it, excited the water molecules enough to boil. Then set it on the table. She pulled back Chibs' bandage and smeared something on his skin, then re-bandaged his neck. "Should be mostly healed by morning."

"How did you do that?" Tig asked, pointing at the mug.

"The same way a microwave does, I just gave the molecules a little excitement and presto, boiling water for tea." Willow waved her hand and shook her head at Tig before he could ask anything else. "We'll get to the whole witch thing, but first, The Scooby Story."

"Why Scooby?" Jax asked.

"Because that's who we were," Willow said simply. "Buffy was Daphne, Xander was Shaggy, and I was Velma." Willow looked down at her hands, "then later Oz was Scooby, Dawn was Scrappy, we had Giles all the way through to guide us. Cordy was the bitchy Daphne, then Anya took her place," a tear slipped down her cheek. "Angel was Fred, and then when he left there was Riley, then Spike." Willow whipped the tears from her face, "but I'm getting ahead of myself." Willow blew unnecessarily on her tea and took an experimental sip, Chibs was right, it was proper tea, and she had spent way too much time in England with Giles. "The Scooby Story starts with a fifteen year old cheerleader in LA." Willow recounted the story of how Buffy was called, how she came to Sunnydale, loosing Jesse, becoming the Scoobies, the Harvest, meeting Angel, the Master, Praying Mantis teacher, Catherine the Great, Hyena possession, Moloch (to which Tig said, "you fell in love with a robot?" "Just wait, she's not the only one," Faith spoiled), and killing the Master. "And that was my sophomore year in high school." Willow ended the first part of the story.

Willow refilled her mug with tea, "so, any questions?" the entire room sat silently, most of them processing the barrage of information that they had just received, Faith watched each of their reactions, waiting for what they would do or say when it was her turn up to the Baddie plate, when it was Willow's. While the weight of what she had done still hung over her head, it was a burden she would always have to carry, but she had also served her time, not only to society in jail, but to the cosmos in her coma. Willow didn't feel she had done anything to make up for her laps into the dark. While her friends and family had forgiven her and moved on, the coven she had recovered with had accepted her as the most powerful white witch there was, and even the Goddess herself had granted her the ultimate balance and forgiveness, turning her white as she released all of the potentials; Willow still felt the darkness inside of herself, still struggled with her past, and couldn't forgive her own actions. Their darkness, and the struggle against it, as probably what drew them together; their mutual need for someone to understand had made them friends.

"Do you guys steal weapons form the army often?" the bearded giant, Opie, asked. He sounded a little shocked and slightly worried. Faith filed that away for later examination.

"Well, we didn't have cable, so we had to make our own fun." Willow chuckled slightly, "but, no, we don't." Willow turned her brilliant smile to Opie, who Faith thought might have blushed a bit, but it might have been the alcohol or the lateness of the hour. "I'll get to all of that," Willow said for probably the dozenth time. "The New Council has their own connections when it comes to weapons, now. And as much as it upset Buffy, we returned to rocket launcher after she took care of the Judge." Willow did a quick mental calculation, bringing herself back up to speed after the interruption. "So, Kendra is the new Slayer, called after Buffy died fighting the Master. Spike and Drew showed up, Spike wanting to revive the ailing vampire. Spike crashed Parent Teacher night, we all became our costumes, Buffy gave Angel a happy and he went evil, and we just dispatched the Judge." Willow took a deep breath, she must be getting old, Willow speak was getting more taxing and oxygen more necessary. "Let's see, next I find out my boyfriend is a werewolf, Buffy's mom dates a robot; see, not just me, and our school heath projects try and take over our brains."

Willow wrapped up the evening with the closing of Acathla, Kendra's death, and Buffy's expulsion and disappearance. "And so ends junior year in high school." She stood and stretched. "So, other then own a bike shop and a porn studio, what do you nice folks do?"


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Hard Road

Author: RogueWitch

Summary: Faith and Willow are assigned to a possible Hellmouth in Northern California, where they run across Jax and the Sons of Anarchy.

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sons of Anarchy; I'm just borrowing them for a little while.

_Last time: Willow wrapped up the evening with the closing of Acathla, Kendra's death, and Buffy's expulsion and disappearance. "And so ends junior year in high school." She stood and stretched. "So, other than own a bike shop and a porn studio, what do you nice folks do?"_

"They run guns," Faith said, picking at her nails with one of her knives. "I can smell them." The entire room was silent, an air of menace as an undercurrent. "Relax, we couldn't care less what you do to make money, just don't point one at Red, it's a really bad idea, full of black swimmy nightmares." Faith put the blade down and pointed at Chibs. "I've been trying to figure out why he looks so framilure, as you all were talking it came to me." Faith looked at Willow, "don't you see it?"

"Without the," Willow gestured towards her cheeks, indicating his scars. "And a bit younger, yeah." She took his face in her hands, "she's got your eyes." Chibs just looked confused. "Kerrianne, Filip," Willow said. "She's been living at the Council House in Ohio for two years now. She's got your picture on her dresser."

"What do you mean my daughters living in the Council House in Ohio?" Chibs asked with a mix of relief and worry. At least she was away from Jimmy O, the bastard.

"She's a slayer," Faith said. "Fiona was supposed to tell you about it and the move. She said she had. Legally we need both parents consent for minors to come to live at our school."

"Probably had Jimmy O sign off as her father." Chibs couldn't and wouldn't keep the disgust out of his voice.

"Yeah, mans an ass, but his guns come at a fair price and are much needed for our girls in some parts of the world." Faith flipped her blade back and forth in her hand. "Your girl's an ace with blades, taught me a thing or two, and knives are my thing, well next to pointy bits of wood. Must run in the family."

"Thanks for that, love." Chibs smiled at Faith, while Willow took the moment of inactivity to check his bandages again. She pulled the old one all the way off, used a damp cloth to wipe away old ointment and then reapplied and stuck on a new, smaller bandage. "How's it look?"

"Not too bad. You'll have a new badass scar in no time." Willow smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Tore you up something bad though, had to be a fledgling." She looked at Faith. "Good thing we put a bid in on that house, we're staying a while. Giles was right."

"Hellmouth?" Faith asked, fledgling meant master vamp somewhere near, there had to be a draw for a master to a back water like this, and Lodi wasn't exactly LA.

"Could be, we'll have to monitor it," Willow put away her medical kit and stood up. "Do, who's ready for breakfast?"

The day continued on, breakfast was punctuated by tales of Senior year, Faith's arrival, and her turn to the dark side.

"So you killed a guy and joined the crazy mayor?" Jax slowly put his fork down on his plate, taking risk assessment. "You lied to the people who were supposed to be your friend, have your back, and you just flipped on them."

"Woh, Jax. Take a step back," Willow held up her hands indicating a time-out. "This was ten years ago, Faith was sixteen, in a matter of months she had lost everything she thought she could rely on, things have changed, Faith grew up, we grew up." Willow looked at Faith, seeing how she was handling everything. The witch could practically feel the girl's walls slamming into place. "The Scooby's have literally been to Hell and back together, we forgave and forgot past indiscressions, because once we have, we don't ever have to worry about them happening again." Willow sat back in her seat and regarded the assembled Sons of Anarchy with her resolve face. "I am an Original Scooby, I could have chosen any assignment, any Slayer to work with, I could have done anything, with my power I could have sat in an academic building all day and taught little witches, but I choose to be in the field, and I choose Faith as my Slayer." This was news to Faith, but she kept quiet. "Faith is my friend, she is loyal to the end, if you have a problem with that, we'll just end show and tell right now, and you all can kindly leave us to saving the world, while you supply the local gangs with guns."

Just looking at Willow it was easy to miss the inner warrior, she was delicate looking, her red hair always neat, and her clothes sweet, but under it all was a warrior Goddess with a fire that burned with passion and loyalty. Jax knew he wouldn't cross her, and she had already tamed his Scot and was well on her way to winning over the rest of the club, but it wasn't his call.

"We'll reserve judgment until you've finished your story," Clay said gravely, clearly not happy with everything.

"Good," Willow went back to the story, finishing with the knife fight, preparing the high school, killing the mayor, Faith's coma, and Angel leaving. As a consensus, they decided to take a story break after breakfast, and the blowing up of Sunnydale High School was as good a stopping point as any. Jax was needed out at Cara Cara, Faith wanted to get a good look at the land that they shared and needed to get out of an enclosed space, even one as large as the Clubhouse. Faith wasn't thrilled with the prospect of riding on the back of someone else's bike, but headed out with Jax anyway.

Chibs offered to give Willow a tour of the area, since she wanted a look around, and to walk the cemetery in day light to get a lay of the land, but he was summarily shut down.

"You, mister, are going to march yourself right up to your room and get some rest." Willow pointed up the stairs with one hand on her hip. "I may have excelarated your healing, but like with any medicine this strong, there will be no operating heavy machinery, and a motorcycle is heavy." Willow waited for Chibs to say anything, when it looked like he was going to argue she continued. "This is not Harry Potter, there is no wand waving or blood replenishing potion, you need rest and to take care of yourself. This was your freebie, mister, since you didn't know any better, but next time it'll cost you. Magic is taxing and not to be taken lightly."

"Yes, mum." The scot took himself directly up the stairs, not daring to cross the witch who had been so kind to him.

"I can take you," the gentle giant of a man said to Willow. He hadn't said much since they had started, but his eyes were kind, she could feel the darkness below the surface, the dark that came from losing someone you loved violently, the same darkness she had lurking in her belly every day. "I just need to drop my kids off at school, if you don't mind."


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Hard Road

Author: RogueWitch

Summary: Faith and Willow are assigned to a possible Hellmouth in Northern California, where they run across Jax and the Sons of Anarchy.

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sons of Anarchy; I'm just borrowing them for a little while.

_Last time: "I can take you," the gentle giant of a man said to Willow. He hadn't said much since they had started, but his eyes were kind, she could feel the darkness below the surface, the dark that came from losing someone you loved violently, the same darkness she had lurking in her belly every day. "I just need to drop my kids off at school, if you don't mind."_

Willow gave him her full smile. "I'd like that, Opie." She took his offered arm and a sizzle of energy went down to her fingertips. There was more to this man then met the eye, a potential that had yet to be tapped.

Opie felt it too, he wanted to write it off as static electricity, but he knew it was more than was potential meeting kinetic energy. He had felt something like it when he had met Donna, felt potential energy in her; her potential butting against his, the way the air feels before a lightning storm. This red head's energy was dynamic, full of charge, she had what he needed, and somewhere in the primal part of his mind, that made her his. He patted Willow's hand, feeling more grounded then he had since before Donna died, if he was honest with himself, since before he'd gone to prison.

His heart sank, there was no way that this sweet, well-educated woman would ever look at him as more than a biker and a thug and a murderer.

"I can feel it you know," Willow said, as Opie helped her into his truck.

"You can feel what?" Opie started the truck, but didn't put it in drive.

"The darkness in you," Willow said, looking out the windshield, missing the look of shame on Opie's face. "Under all those layers of kindness, of love, of being a good father, a good friend; the light you have outshines it, but the darkness you try to hide in your soul? It calls to mine." Willow looked at him. "I am not all sunshine and rainbows and fuzzy puppies, Opie; I am far darker then you could ever be, but that doesn't make me evil, and it doesn't make you evil either." Willow opened the glove box were she could feel the weight of cold steel on her mind. "You kill men with guns and might," she flipped the glove compartment shut. "I kill them with my magic, with my mind." She took Opie's hand, the static electricity jumped between them. "I killed the man who killed my lover, I killed him with cold rage, with my bare hands, and with magic so dark there isn't a name for it that can be spoken." She looked the bearded biker in the eyes, "I'm not telling you this to scare you, or warn you, but so you understand. You can heal from this, you can make this just another living part of you, and I can help you."

"How do you know," Opie let her keep his hands pressed together in hers.

"About the darkness or the lover who was torn away from you?" Willow asked. "It's written all over your face, in your eyes."

"How did you kill him?" Opie didn't ask out of any kind of sick fascination, but because he wanted to fully understand what she had come back from.

"I hunted him down, strung him up with magic, and tortured him." Willow started to pull her hands back from the bikers, but Opie held on, knowing she would need support, a tangible something to hold on to. "I used the same bullet that he used to kill Tara. I pushed it slowly into his sternum and listened to him scream and cry and beg." Willow let a tear slip out of her eye, it hurt to think back to what she had done to Warren, not that she felt he should have lived, but at what she had let her anger do to him. "It only egged me on. I was so high on the magic, so turned on by the violence, I didn't want it to ever end." Willow could see the sadness in Opie's eyes, in his face, but no pity, not the way everyone else looked at her when she told her story, just sadness for her loss, and understanding. "Eventually I got bored; I flayed the skin off of his body and let him die."

"I shot the man who I thought killed my wife, then carved the anarchy symbol into his chest." Opie put the car in gear and started to back out of the parking space. "What a pair we make."

"Do you know who actually killed your wife," Willow figured with the way he had been talking it was a safe bet.

"Who actually pulled the trigger, or who was responsible for a gun being pointed at her head in the first place?" Opie pulled the truck into traffic towards his home and his kids. Gemma had been kind enough to stay with them overnight when Piney had been called to the Clubhouse. "Tig pulled the trigger." Opie let the statement lie, he and Tig had worked out their issues and slowly Tig was becoming the cold bearded assassin that the Club needed him to be, the two of them would never be best friends, and Donna's death would always s lay between them, but the relationship within the Club was mending. "The trigger may have been pulled by Tig, but the gun was loaded, handed to him, and pointed by an ATF agent named Stahl."

"Super," Willow could feel the need for vengeance, for closure, coming off of him in waves. "I would love to be the voice of goodness and light and tell you that it won't make you feel better to kill this Agent Stahl, it certainly won't make your life less complicated, but it's good to know that the man who killed Tara isn't out there anymore. That he can't do this to anyone else," Willow paused and thought a moment about how she would word the next bit. "Watching her die opened the way for the darkness inside of me, the thing I had been trying so hard to contain, come out. I killed Warren out of pure hatred and anger and vengeance." Willow turned to look as Opie, who was pulled his truck into the driveway. "When you kill Agent Stahl, make sure it's because it needs to be done, not just out of blind hatred. It'll steal a bit of your soul, a part you might not care about today, but one I would give nearly anything to have back. The darkness will fill that broken piece if you're not careful."

Opie just looked at this lip of a girl, wondering how she had looked so deeply into him, saying all the words he hadn't been able to find over the last year. His deepest fears centered around the darkness that had been seeping out since Donna's death, a darkness he didn't want to have seep over onto his kids. "I worry that I'm hurting my kids just by being around them." Opie turned off the truck, but made no move to get out, Ellie and Kenny would be late to school, but he needed to say this, needed to talk to someone and willow was so easy to talk to. "What if my mere presence is corruption them?"

"These kids lost their mother, the best thing you can do is be there, they need to know that their father loves them, and is there for them and won't let anything happen to them." Willow opened the door of the truck and slid out. "I imagine, with what happened to their mom, that they're scared. They won't fault you for what you have to do to keep them safe." She stood by the truck door, watching as Opie made a decision and got out and led her to the front door.

The trip to the school was a non-event, Opie made a brief introduction of Willow to the kids, and Kenny made some comment about Willow looking less trampy then the last one, which affectively ended all conversation in the car. Opie handed each of the kids lunch money and watched as they entered the school, making no move to leave until they had disappeared.

"You're going to do just fine, Opie," Willow patted him on the leg, the kinetic sparks jumping between them again. Willow thought she saw the irises of Opie's eyes go grey for a moment in the rear view mirror, but it could easily have been a trick of the light.

"It's hard being a single parent," Opie said, trying like mad to keep his hands on the wheel and not reach out to the red head, if only to feel that arc of electricity again.

"From what I've seen, you're far from alone." Willow watched as the town of Charming passed by. Opie pointed out sights as they drove, best burger joint, hospital, sheriff's department, grocery store, and so on. It was a relaxing and quiet morning, something Willow rarely go, and never shared with people she barely knew. As a kid who had been the geek and looser, she had an intense weariness of strangers, and tough her job had recently brought her into contact with lots of new people, there was usually a warming up period. For some reason, these people didn't hit her radar as 'strangers' they registered the same way Buffy had when they first met; people to protect and be protected by. The Powers had sent them to Sam Crow for a reason. Willow was starting to get more and more worried about this prospective Hellmouth, she was also a bit concerned with how fiercely the Sons seemed to want to protect Charming, because unless they agreed to work together, they would spend more of their time arguing in and amongst them, then battling the forces of darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Hard Road

Author: RogueWitch

Summary: Faith and Willow are assigned to a possible Hellmouth in Northern California, where they run across Jax and the Sons of Anarchy.

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sons of Anarchy; I'm just borrowing them for a little while.

_Last time: The Powers had sent them to Sam Crow for a reason. Willow was starting to get more and more worried about this prospective Hellmouth, she was also a bit concerned with how fiercely the Sons seemed to want to protect Charming, because unless they agreed to work together, they would spend more of their time arguing in and amongst them, then battling the forces of darkness._

Cara Cara fit every definition of a warehouse that Faith could think of, well except one, it was clean. It fit none of her expectations of a porn studio. She wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting, but this wasn't it. Jax left her bay a pair of couches to go and talk with a woman who looked like an aging porn star, then he disappeared into the office. In the three minutes that he was gone, she had no less than ten people give her a head to toe once over, five girls gave her dirty looks and dagger eyes, and the aging porn star woman, whose name was Luann, asked if she was looking for a job.

Faith considered herself pretty open, but she was more than a little glad when Jax came back out of the office and slung his arm casually around her shoulders and headed out. She caught a few more glares headed in her direction, which she promptly threw right back, with interest. The girls quickly chose to look elsewhere.

"You've got quite a few admirers, blondy bear," Faith said, once they were out the door, stepping out from under his arm.

"And you just very effectively took me off the market," Jax clipped his helmet under his chin and slung his leg over his bike. "I should probably thank you, those girls are like vultures."

"No bitch looks at me like that and doesn't get something in return," Faith threw her leg over the bike. "I don't do off the market, I screw who I want, when I want, how I want."

"Who damaged you?" Jax asked before starting the bike, not expecting an answer.

While Cara Cara and the land that Willow and Faith were trying to buy were connected, it was a bit of a hike through the woods from the Cara Cara end. The drive took less than three minutes and within a half hour, they were making their way through the back property of the house, sweating lightly in the Northern Cali spring sun.

"So, you all are from So. Cal. Originally?" Jax asked once it was clear that Faith wasn't going to start any kind of conversation.

"Red is, I'm from Boston," Faith said, constraining on the feel of the land around her and not on the attractive blond following her. She could feel that soothing was off, not in the way Willow would be able to, but her Spider Senses were defiantly tingling.

"What brought you to California, then?" Jax had gotten part of the story when Willow was recounting the Scooby Legends, but most of Faith's story was glossed over. He got the impression she didn't talk about her past much.

"Willow told you, I followed the thing that killed my watcher." Faith changed direction; toward whatever it was that was hitting her radar.

"Yeah, but what made you stay, darlin'? I mean you could have gone back home, but you didn't." Jax was struggling a bit to keep up with the Slayer, he thought of himself as being in good shape, even though he was a smoker, but this girl was smoking him.

"Was no home to go back to," Faith paused and let her senses take bearing. "I ran away from home at fourteen. Mom was a drug addict, had a non-stop string of abusive, dealer boyfriends." Faith started walking again, towards the feeling in the woods. "When I hit fourteen, they started looking at me. Mom couldn't have cared less, so I split." Faith was so wrapped up in what she was stalking, that she didn't see the look on Jax's face.

There were a lot of things that he had seen and done in his time, but women were to be protected, and children were sacred. He knew he wouldn't ever win any awards as a father, but he did his best, and the idea of a mother doing nothing, standing ideally by, while her child was in danger reminded him of his ex and what a fuck up and mistake she had been.

"I was on the street until my watcher took me in. When he died, I followed Kakistos to Sunnydale, and you know the rest, or well, some of it anyway."

"Why the Mayor?" the question bugged Jax from the moment that Willow told them, how did someone who was built to fight evil choose to change sides? It was like turning on family, almost.

"I needed to belong, I wanted a place to be the slayer, I was a kid with all these powers and I found myself faced with this closed group of people who didn't need me." Faith hated looking back, remembering how lost she felt, she had been fine on the streets alone before she was called, but that had all changed. "The Mayor gave me a place to me, to shine, to be the Slayer. He gave me what felt like a family, to me." Faith stopped, whatever it was she was feeling she was standing on top of it. "We need to get Willow out here."

"Okay," Jax pulled out his cell to call Opie, but found no signal. "We're going to have to head back first."

"Not a problem," Faith said, taking quick stock of the surroundings. "I'll be able to find this again, easy." Faith let Jax walk quietly for a while, absorbing everything she had said, but she wasn't one to share, and when she did, she expected a return on her investment. "So, tell me about Jax Teller, other than motorcycles and gun running."

"I run a porn studio." Faith just glared at him. "And I have a son who's almost a year old, his mother is my drug addict ex-wife," Jax said, not really knowing what to tell. His life had been colorful, sure, but not demons and forces of darkness colorful. "And the one girl I thought I'd spend my life with, split a month ago for the second time, but I shouldn't be surprised, what a doctor was doing with a biker like me, I don't know."

"Hell, my ex was a high school principal, and I never finished sophomore year, these things happen." Faith slowed down to let Jax catch up a bit.

"He the reason you don't do relationships?" Jax pulled his hair off the back of his neck, wondering how even Super girl wasn't huffing and puffing.

"Oh, yeah," Faith said. "One of many. So, this doctor chick, she couldn't hack the life, or she just find someone more on par with her?"

"Couldn't handle the life," Jax didn't want to think about Tara, she'd broken his heart one too many ties. The last time, he'd been a teenager and it had been much easier to loose himself in whatever chick crossed his path. Now, he was an adult with responsibilities and a son, he couldn't just go parading anyone through his house.

"Couldn't deal with sleeping with someone how killed people, seeing blood on your clothes when she threw them in the wash," Faith absently rubbed at her hands, like there was still blood there. "She would imagine the people you killed in her dreams, see blood in the shower when you were done, and finally it became too much."

"How?" Jack could still hear Tara's parting words: 'I just can't live with the blood all over this house anymore. Everything you own is covered in it.'

"Because Robin couldn't hack it either," Faith thought she was done feeling hurt over Robin's departure, but apparently not. "He told me that I always smelled like death when I came home, and then he left."

"Well, we're a broken mess, aren't we?" Jax checked his phone, which now sported two full bars, and was an effective end to a depressing conversation.


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Hard Road

Author: RogueWitch

Summary: Faith and Willow are assigned to a possible Hellmouth in Northern California, where they run across Jax and the Sons of Anarchy.

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sons of Anarchy; I'm just borrowing them for a little while.

_Last time: "Well, we're a broken mess, aren't we?" Jax checked his phone, which now sported two full bars, and was an effective end to a depressing conversation._

Willow appeared like a ray of sunshine in the woods. Apparently she and Opie had taken the time to go back to the hotel to change because Willow arrived in a brilliant yellow and blue and pink broom stick skirt, which floated around her legs and put her at odds with everything around her, yet oddly, she fit perfectly. Opie followed closely behind the red head, with a bag of burgers and a bit of a puppy dog expression on his face. Jax worried a little for his friend. Who had his heart broken twice in the past year, but eased a bit when Willow gave Opie a brilliant grin, then danced off to join Faith.

"So, can doom and gloom and spider scensy things wait for lunch?" Willow asked, practically dancing around Faith.

"I take it you had a good morning," Faith watched her friend closely. "Or someone fed you coffee." Opie's ears turned red. "I always forget to tell people that mocha's are like crack to Red. Do no feed the witch."

"Don't blame Opie," Willow said in a mock stern voice. "Plus, it's not just mocha crack happy, it's I think we're really going to like it here, and I had a nice morning happy, with a slight bit of I haven't slept all night buzz."

"So, it's not an I'm driving stick again, happy?" Faith asked, wiggling her eyebrows

"Dirty, and no." Willow smacked Faith on her arm. "And don't you even start with me, I saw you dancing in your seat last night, pounding back shots. I know about the two H's of post slaying. I lived with enough of you."

"Don't even go there, Red," Faith said, taking the bag of burgers from Opie and letting down the back of the truck for them to sit.

"What are the two H's of post slaying?" Opie asked, helping willow into the bed of the truck.

"I'll tell you later," Willow smiled at the bearded giant. "When Faith isn't in hitting distance."

"I'm guessing they're things Faith doesn't want anyone to know about," Jax said, taking a bite of burger.

"She came up with the," Willow took a container of fries from Faith and dug in.

"Eff off, I was fifteen," Faith so needed to change the subject. "Have we heard from the realtor?"

"Nope," Willow popped fries into her mouth, swatting Opie's hands away, while he tried to steal some. "I don't expect to for at least a few days, if not a week."

"Are you all planning on staying at the hotel until you can move in?" Jax asked, not one hundred percent sure way.

"For now," Willow said, taking a bite of burger. "When it's possible that we're getting the house, I'll probably go back to Ohio and pack our stuff and send it out, but it really depends on how long this all takes, I mean, if it's going to be months, we're going to need other accommodations, there's only so much fast food I can eat."

"If it comes to that, I'm sure we can see what Sam Crow can do to expatiate the process," Opie said, cleaning up his lunch wrappers and throwing them into one of the empty bags.

"Should make it go faster," Jax agreed. "I'll take to Clay. IN the meantime, I'd like to have one of use stick with you, we can learn plenty from each other, and if there is a threat, Charming is out town."

"Looks like we found our Scooby's, Faith," Willow threw her trash into the bag. "Told you we wouldn't he all alone out here, 'half a country from Slay Central'," Willow mocked.

"I do not sound like that," Faith said, tossing her trash into the bag.

Faith lead Willow and Opie out to where she had felt the disturbance, though Willow was sure she could have found it won her own. Jax lagged along behind, silently kicking himself for agreeing to come on the hike out into the woods again. Especially with a stomach full of greasy burger.

Willow stated at the spot on the ground where the darkness felt strongest, or as Faith put it, her evil compass was pointing. "It's definitely something," Willow said, not taking her eyes off of the ground. "I don't know what it is, but it's not a fully formed Hellmouth."

"How do you know?" Jax asked, really just wanting to get back to the shop for a nice cold beer, or possibly a glass of water.

"Well, mostly because if it was a Hellmouth it would be more protected, there would be seals in place to harness and control the energy. I'll have to run tests to see if that will need to be done, but first, Jax stand right there," she pointed to the spot on the ground they had all been looking at.

"Why?" he wasn't at all sure that standing on something that could be called a Hellmouth was a good idea.

"It won't hurt you, I just need to see something," Willow pointed again to the spot and looked at Jax expectantly. Jax reluctantly stood were Willow indicated. "How do you feel?"

"Like an idiot, how am I supposed to feel, darlin'?" Jax stood there while the three of them watched him, Willow slowly circling.

"No, that's good," Willow replied vaguely. "Faith, switch places with him."

"I've already stood on the scary mystical energy point," Faith argued.

"And now, you're going to do it again," Willow said grumpily. "Goddess, can't you do something without arguing with me." Willow's eyes flashed dangerously at Faith, who jumped into the circle the Witch had subconsciously been walking. "How do you feel?" The red head asked as calmly as she could, forcing the anger and malevolence that had been creeping in since they got near the site, to the back of her mind.

"Every sense I have is screaming that this place is wrong, evil. My Slayer vibes want something to kill to make it stop." Faith jumped away from, the site before Willow said anything. "And now I'm itching for a fight, or a couple dozen shots of Jack."

"I'm sure Jax'll let you take him for a test drive, Faith," Willow didn't even bother to look at the Slayer. Her head cocked to the side, looking at what could potentially be their reason for being in Northern Cali. "The woods are pretty dense over there."

"Don't be a bitch, Red," Faith stalked a few yards away, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You know what they say about payback, "Willow said, still not looking up. "Opie, it's your turn." Opie didn't argue, just stepped over to where the other two had been. It was like being plugged into a light socket; every nerve stood on end and came to life.

"That's not normal," Jax's voice drifted over from the trees, over the hum in Opie's head.

"It's what I thought," Willow kept pacing the circle. "The human felt nothing, Jax you my friend are a complete magic null, it's probably why you and Opie are so close, it's got to be relaxing to be around you. Faith, as the Slayer you felt the wrongness of this place, you're not wrong. This shouldn't be here. And Opie, goddess you're sexy like that."

"Uhoh," Faith said, looking closely at Opie for the first time. His loosely dreaded hair had gone steely grey and his eyes had bled grey clear through the whites. "That can't be good."

"Its fine," Willow said, no longer walking the circle. "It's balance, light and dark." She stepped into her own circle, closing it and walked to Opie, who looked confused. "This isn't a Hellmouth, Faith, but it has the potential to be." Willow took Opie's face in her hands, her hair bleeding grey down her back, the power changing her eyes. "There has been so much violence here in the past year, I'll have to check my charts, but this spot was once just a crossing of Lay Lines, a major crossing, I think, but with everything that's happened in Charming since the warehouse burning down, its pulled this place wrong."

"How do you know about that?" Jax asked, clinging to the one thing that she had said that he understood.

"The land told me," Willow said, her eyes transfixed with Opie's, who was slowly relaxing. "We're here to maintain the balance, Faith."

"How is that?" Faith slowly crept to the edge of Willow's circle, but wouldn't go any further. "You've gone all power, grey eyed, Willow, I don't know what to do."

"Its okay, this isn't bad," Willow looked past Opie, keeping her hands on his face, while he debated what to do with his. "Faith, you're here to deal with the supernatural threats, those that will try to use this place, now that it's active, for evil, and they will come. It's in their best interest to open a new Hellmouth on this coast. Jax, the Sons need to reclaim Charming, move the violence back outside the boarders, and push it back to Lodi, because human violence is what opened the gateway."

"It's not that easy, sweetheart, "Jax watched as his friend made a decision and wrapped his arms around the Witch in front of him, closing a circuit that Jax couldn't feel, but could see, both of their bodies relaxing into each other, like they were always like that.

"When the warehouse burned, something broke in Charming, a balance," Willow said, leaning into her grey giant, power pulsing between them; this was what she was missing when she was with Tara, what she looked for in Kennedy's potential Slayer strength, what she fooled herself into thinking she had with Oz. A closed circuit, full powered, connection. "With Opie's help, I can restore the natural balance you need to enforce the balance of power."

"How can I help you?" Opie asked, his hands splayed across the Witch's back, feeling little shocks of energy as he moved his fingers.

"You, my grey giant, are potential, stored, focused, potential," Willow said, squirming a bit at the sensations across her nerve endings. "Nature has been calling to you your whole life, Opie, and now it's time to answer. No more dulling your senses with pot, not more lightly tapping in to find the best place to put a charge, we're going to open you up wide and show you what Mother Nature intended for you to do." Willows pushed a bit of power into the circle that she had formed earlier. "But first, we're going to do a bit of magic." She slipped her hands around the back of Opie's neck and gently pulled him towards her. His arms tightened around her back, lifting her off the ground. As their lips touched, power exploded from them, hitting the circle and bleeding to the ground, forming a silver seal over the site. Willow leaned her head back, her hands still locked around Opie's neck; she let out a huge sigh. "Best first kiss, ever."

"Could you give a girl a little warning?" Faith shouted, picking herself up off the ground, where she had tackled Jax to avoid the burst of power. "I think I just peed a little!" Opie laughed in a deep, full throated way, that Jax hadn't heard since before prison, if Opie was happy it was worth the numerous bruises he was sure to have from being tackled to the ground by the Slayer, which, if Jax would admit to himself, wasn't that bad an experience.

Opie let willow gently to the ground, but kept a tight grip on her hand as they exited what was left of the circle. Once they were clear, he leaned down and touched his lips to hers, experimentally. Sparks flew between them, but nothing like the power released from the first kiss.

"Well, you certainly know how to put on a show, Red," Faith's jumping nerves starting to settle.

"I aim to please," Willow smiled at her friend, squeezing Opie's hand a little. "So, how do you feel now?"

"Less jumpy, though I'm still itchy," Faith said, truthfully. "Hungry too. It's nice to have you all red and colorful again."

"It's nice to be red and colorful," Willow said, leading the group away from the site. "Let's see what we can do about one of your H's."

"Which one would that be?" Faith wiggled her eyebrows at Willow. "I mean, you did put on quite a show; might inspire a girl."

"I'm not going to sleep with you, Faith," Willow said in a flat voice, Opie and Jax got the feeling this conversation happened often. "I will buy you a burger."

"Deal." Faith stalked ahead, towards Opie's truck and Jax's bike. "Think my bike's ready yet?"


End file.
